Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley sAlabama Gov. Robert Bentley is flanked by Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, left, and Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, right, as he speaks before signing Alabama's law cracking down on illegal immigration in June. (AP Photo/Montgomery Advertiser, Mickey Welsh)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Through the years, Alabama has been pushed by the federal government, through the courts, to make changes to its laws.

But in the debate over the state's immigration law, it may be Alabama that pulls federal law in a new direction.

The federal courts are still looking at immigration laws in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and Utah. And South Carolina's immigration law is set to go into effect Jan. 1.

The patchwork approach that the Justice Department has argued against in court filings seems to be gaining speed.

And the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn last month to leave in place key provisions of Alabama's law, where similar measures had been blocked by other federal courts, certainly raises the stakes.

In court filings last week, the Justice Department said there is no room under federal law for a state to enact a separate immigration law enforcement system. Judge Blackburn rejected that argument in late September.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta will take up requests this week to block Alabama law.

But that won't be the last word, either way. Mark McDaniel, a well-known Huntsville attorney, said he expects Alabama's law will wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court. Sponsors of the bill, including Alabama Rep. Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, have said they expect to go to the Supreme Court and win.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California has already ruled 2-1 that Arizona's law is unconstitutional. If the 11th Circuit declines to block the law this week, or even more significantly, if the court finds later that Alabama's law is constitutional, there would be at least two sets of standards for immigration law enforcement in the U.S.

That is a scenario that is unlikely to last very long, said John Carroll, a former federal judge and dean of Cumberland Law School.

"The easiest way to get the Supreme Court to take a case is if there is split in the circuits," Carroll said. "You've got the 9th in California, the 11th for Alabama and Georgia, plus the 7th in Indiana, and the 4th in South Carolina. If they all rule the same across the board, it may not reach the Supreme Court.

"But it's a huge issue of public importance and a huge issue of allocation of power."

Advocates for the law and advocates for immigrant rights groups tend to agree on one thing: Immigration law reform is needed. But given the strong feelings on both sides of the issue, Congress hasn't done much about the problem in recent years. The burgeoning state effort to police immigration may change that, said Kevin Johnson, an immigration law expert and dean of the University of California Davis School of Law.

"The ferment among the states on immigration - as well as the conflicting court decisions - may ultimately provoke Congress to act on comprehensive immigration reform," Johnson said. "It seems to me that the state immigration laws keep coming and will continue to come until the Supreme Court narrowly circumscribes the state's role in immigration enforcement or Congress enacts comprehensive immigration reform."

Since Blackburn's ruling, Alabama has been in the national spotlight as the immigration law has rolled out. The reports of children being withdrawn from school, long lines to renew car tags and crops not being picked, were answered by Gov. Robert Bentley's stated determination to defend and fully enforce the law.

Alabama legislators passed the far-reaching immigration law this year using the argument that the federal government has not done enough to pursue illegal immigrants in the state. The move also fulfilled a campaign promise made by Republicans who successfully captured control of the Alabama House and Senate for the first time since 1874. In Alabama and across the country the measure has plenty of vocal supporters.

Alabama Rep. Mike Ball, R-Huntsville, said the law tries to address the lack of work available for Alabama residents who don't have a special skill but are willing to work. Those kinds of jobs, he said, have been taken away by illegal immigrants willing to work for less money.

Ball also said much of the controversy is overblown, and issues like school departures are less about pulling children out of school in fear and instead a sign families are leaving the state.

"It just took effect a couple of weeks ago, and long-term we don't know what the effects will be," Ball said. "It certainly is sweeping change, and any time sweeping change happens it takes time for the market to adjust and changes to be made. A lot of the reaction is an overreaction, I believe.

"I do know this: The public wanted us to do something."

While Alabama's law gets enforced, one key provision has no clear direction and will likely come up in local courts across the state.

The issue stems from the requirement that police officers check the immigration status of someone they stop for a traffic violation or other offense, on the basis of reasonable suspicion.

Attorney McDaniel said issues like how long a person can be detained and have that stop not run afoul of constitutional protections against "unreasonable searches and seizures," will play out in individual court cases as judges try to set up rules defining "reasonable."

Judge Blackburn said the law can be constitutional if it results in reasonable searches, but the meaning has not yet been defined in Alabama, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimates the average immigration status check takes about 80 minutes.

Passing the law and prevailing in the first round of the court fight looks like a win for the Alabama Republican party, said Dr. Bill Stewart, professor emeritus at the University of Alabama and an expert on Alabama government.

"I would say it is a victory for Alabama's GOP but how big will depend on the ultimate verdicts and also on how much of a hassle full implementation of the law proves to be for Alabamians who are not illegal immigrants - employers seeking economical labor, people needing to renew their driver's licenses and transact other business, etc.," Stewart said. "Also, if legal fees turn out to be high in a time of financial stress, this is not a plus."

Dr. Jose Llanes, an professor of education at Auburn University and a naturalized U.S. citizen from Cuba, said the new law may have another consequence that has echoes in Alabama's past. Llanes said he was having lunch in Montgomery with a group of civil rights veterans last week and was told by an elderly man that he was in Tuscaloosa when then-Gov. George Wallace announced Alabama would remain segregated. Llanes said the man told him Wallace was vital to bringing energy to the civil rights movement.

"It seems to me that this law has the potential of bringing attention to what is in Alabama a non-problem," Llanes said. "And this attention, according to the older man I spoke to, is similar in his view to what we did for the civil rights movement."